Royal Oak asks residents to help design biggest park in the city

This land at the former Normandy Oaks golf course is being turned into the largest park in Royal Oak. Residents are asked to offer their opinions on what features the new park should include at a community engagement session Oct. 28 at the Royal Oak Schools administration office.
Royal Oak city photo

Nearly four years after Royal Oak voters approved closing the former Normandy Oak municipal golf course and turning it into the city’s largest park residents will have a chance to suggest what type of features they want to see there.

Jeffrey Huhat, managing partner of Nowak & Fraus Engineers, said residents are invited to drop in from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at a community meeting Saturday, Oct. 28 at the Royal Oak Schools Administration Building, 800 Devillen.

The day will be arranged so people can drop in for an hour or so and there will be tables available for children.

The city hired Nowak & Fraus to oversee the park’s creation and a community engagement effort to get residents involved in setting priorities for the 40-acre park.

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In addition to the upcoming day-long session, the city will do Facebook Live coverage of the activities and is set to create an online opinion survey for residents on preferred park features, said Judy Davids, the city’s community engagement specialist.

“We did a survey two years ago but we want to make sure we are up to date on what residents want” at the park, Davids said.

Top priorities that emerged in the 2015 survey suggest residents want a park that has natural features and includes such things as soccer fields, walking and biking trails.

Royal Oak sold off about 10 acres of the former golf course, with voter approval, to a housing developer for roughly $3.5 million to finance the Normandy Oak park, as well as some improvements at other parks and facilities.

Nowak & Fraus will be working with Landscape Architects & Planners of Lansing on the park project.

Huhat said the goal, after getting input from residents and city approval, is to bid out work to create the park in April 2018 and for construction to begin in May.

“It would probably take five to six months to finish construction, depending on what type of amenities” are included in the park, Huhat said. “Our objective is to have a master plan for the park ... and a definite priority list” of features.

The community engagement meeting Oct. 28 will include a brief presentation on the conditions at the Normandy Oaks property and an overview of the park project as a whole.

Some city officials and professional team members will be on hand to talk to residents about the project and gauge what park features are important to the community, Huhat said.

Different stations will be set up around the room where residents can talk to civil engineers, planners, landscape architects, surveyors and foresters.

Tables will have aerial images of the park land and cutouts of various features -- from playgrounds to soccer fields, splash pads and pavilions -- with the cost of each feature attached.

“People can move features around and plan out where they think these things should go and each will have a price tag, so they have an idea of what things cost as they go through the process,” Huhat said.

The planning suggestions will be photographed and displayed as residents go through the process throughout the day, he added. “I think it will be a very interactive and dynamic process.”

Nowak & Fraus has overseen at least 20 park planning and construction projects for the state’s park system over the past decade, Huhat said. The Normandy Oaks property is a good parcel of land for a park with plenty of existing green space.

“You already have tremendously mature trees there and a natural park setting,” he said. “It’s really a special place.”